Misconceptions
by clarissadele
Summary: Tessa Gray just can't bring herself to understand why people love William Herondale's novels so much. They're nothing but absolute rubbish, right? Oneshot AU/AH/OOC
The page seemed to be glaring back at her. Clear and concise lettering stood out boldly on the open newspaper in front of her. Tessa Gray stared right back at it. Her own name and writing were written on the newspaper article she submitted to her editor just days before.

Tessa knew that her job as a book reviewer for the paper could put her into some rather controversial positions, but this one took the cake. William Herondale' latest novel had just debuted, and the general public, as always, loved it. Tessa, however, was not a part of the general public.

She had given it a four out of ten, and that was kind, even for her, when it came to his writing. She just didn't understand how people could enjoy such rubbish. His witty sense of humour didn't sit well with her, with the innuendos and other erotic remarks scattered throughout the chapters. Not to mention his plot was almost non-existent. So, would she most likely be receiving a lot of hate mail and disapproving looks? Probably. But it would all be worth it.

Tessa sipped her tea and promptly closed the newspaper. She had written the article, and now it was time to move on and hope it would be a while before William Herondale started work on something new. A knock on the door then interrupted Tessa from her thoughts, and she stood to go answer it.

When she opened her front door, however, Tessa couldn't have been more surprised by the man who was standing on the other side of the door. She had only ever really seen his picture on the back of his books, but she certainly recognized that smirk and those blue eyes anywhere. William Herondale himself stood in front of her, and Tessa struggled to stop her jaw from dropping.

"Are you Theresa Gray?" he asked her.

"Yes," Tessa answered tentatively, fully aware that a man who was a stranger, but at the same time didn't feel like one, knew her name and where she lived. He stuck out his hand and smirked again.

"William Herondale. I have a feeling that you've heard of me?"

Tessa ignored this, as he probably meant it as a rhetorical question, and instead asked him a question of her own. "How do you know where I live?"

"Well, let's just say that I paid a visit to one of your colleagues at work, and after a little, well, convincing she was more than happy to write down your address for me."

Tessa found herself cursing the day that Jessamine Lovelace was born, because, really, who else could it have been? That woman would flirt with a fly if it landed on her lunch. While Tessa was lost in her thoughts, William took the opportunity to push is way past her into her apartment.

"Now," he started. "I read your article in the paper this morning and I must say I was quite surprised. Of course, I've seen your reviews before, but when I read this one I knew I had to pay you a visit."

William walked further into her apartment, much to Tessa's disdain, and picked up the newspaper off the table where she left it.

"'William Herondale's most recent novel is four-hundred and fifty-three pages of atrocious rubbish.' A little harsh, don't you think?"

"I'm sorry, are you telling me that you broke into my apartment just to judge my opinion?"

"Technically I didn't break in; I knocked nicely on your door and then let myself in once you opened it." Tessa scowled at him. She'd barely had any coffee yet; she didn't want to have to deal with this right now!

"Look," William continued. "Will you at least hear me out?"

"You haven't even told me why you're here," Tessa replied

"Well, I was about to." Tessa just sighed and motioned for him to continue.

"In all of my years writing novels, I've never met anyone who dislikes my writing quite as much as you do."

"That's a shocker," Tessa muttered to herself. He either didn't hear her or chose to ignore her.

"I'd really like to figure out why. I'm in the middle of writing a new novel, and I want you to read what I have and explain why you don't like it."

To say that Tessa was surprised would be a large understatement. Not only was she disappointed that he was writing yet another book, but he wanted her to read it before it was published? That wasn't even her job!

"I don't know if that's the best idea," she tried to say, but William had already made up his mind.

"Come on, Theresa. I'll even buy you lunch tomorrow at Java Jones Coffee House. Please? I can't stand not knowing. I need answers!"

"Fine," Tessa agreed. "I'll read your draft. And it's Tessa."

"I beg your pardon?"

"My name. I go by Tessa."

He grinned, seemingly pleased to be on a first names basis already. "Well then, Tessa, it's a date." And then he left, before Tessa had the chance to protest.

Tessa didn't know what she was doing here. She didn't know what to do and she certainly didn't know what to expect. Yet here she was, at noon the day after William Herondale barged his way into her home, waiting for him at Java Jones. She just couldn't understand why he had been so persistent in having her here!

Before she had the chance to contemplate anything else, like the meaning of her life, she heard the bell on the front of the door ring, and William entered. He was carrying a rather large briefcase with him, which Tessa could only assume held the most recent draft of his new novel.

"You came," he exclaimed, as he took a seat across from her.

"Did you take me as the kind of person who wouldn't show up to a meeting?"

"No. But you didn't seem too inclined to go out with me the other day."

Tessa shifted in her seat. She had been rather cold. "Alright, well let's just get this over with, then."

"Is that really what you think of time with me? Something to get over with? Have something better to do, do you?" Tessa knew he didn't mean it from his light tone and the smile on his face. This just annoyed her even more. She didn't want to like the charming man who wrote terrible novels.

William pulled papers out of the briefcase that he brought with him, and handed them to her. The page on top obviously was his planning for the novel. It had all the plot points mapped out, and the characters planned out.

"Your main character is bland," Tessa said.

"But that's purposeful."

"This setting is completely overused."

"Well, if the story is about a princess locked away in a tower, you'd think she'd actually be in the tower."

"Which brings me to plot! I don't think there's a single person on this planet who hasn't already read a story about a princess locked away in a tower."

"Yes, but did you see the twist I threw in," Will replied smartly, flipping the sheet of paper over in her hands.

Tessa continued to read, and tried to keep the look on her face neutral. But this was proving to be a difficult task. The prince got to the tower and realized that the princess he was there to save was not someone he was at all attracted to. The princess had to find a way to rescue herself without the help of a man. Her character development was tremendous. Tessa was actually… impressed.

"Well I must say. This is not what I was expecting," Tessa said.

"So you liked it?"

"I didn't say that."

"But you did like it!"

Tessa sighed. "Yes, I guess I liked it."

"Yes!" William exclaimed throwing his hands up into the air, like her approval was the most important thing. "Now I must buy you lunch. What would you like?"

Tessa was aghast. What was so important about her opinion? Surely having every other person in this country love his novel should be enough? She wanted to know what was so important about her. So she asked him just that. "Why do you care so much about my personal opinion of your writing?"

Will sat back down in his chair. "Well, for years I've been reading your reviews in the paper. They've generally been fairly positive, you know? But then there are your reviews about my books. Complete opposite end of the spectrum. I didn't understand why you hated my writing so much. So this last review was my last straw. I was going to find you, and I was going to ask you what I could do to make it better. I couldn't stand the idea of someone not liking what I do, especially an esteemed reviewer such as yourself." Tessa felt her cheeks grow warm at his compliment.

"Anyway, when I got to your door, I knew that I was going to walk inside and demand that you tell me how I could improve. But I must say, I didn't expect you to be so beautiful." If Tessa wasn't blushing before, she certainly was now.

"You know what?" Tessa said, "I probably didn't give you a very fair chance. "I've just been so stuck in my ways that I haven't really read anything you've written expecting to like it. You're actually quite talented."

"I think we should start over. Hi, I'm Will Herondale," He reached a hand across the table. Tessa couldn't help but smile as she shook his hand.

"Tessa Gray. Nice to meet you."


End file.
